The director of risk management with Hams Marketing Services says forward hog contract prices have come under pressure over the last couple of weeks.

Tyler Fulton notes lean hog futures have dropped nearly 10 per cent of their value.

He explains what's happening.

"There's just a steady, large supply. We're talking about a five to six per cent increase over last year. When traders start projecting that forward, they really start trying to figure out, 'how are we going to move this much pork?'. That's probably why forward prices have come under pressure."

Fulton says this will really stress the importance of export markets, as it would be difficult to increase consumption domestically without significant price concessions.

He adds one positive is the Canadian dollar, which continues to sit in the range of 75 cents US.

Producers should consider placing target prices $3-$5 CAD/ckg higher than current forward prices to add price protection in the last half of 2017.